Boys basketball: Hersey dunks Prospect in MSL opener
Hersey senior guard Charlie Pomis elevated his 6-foot-3 frame, due north, to grab a perfectly lofted pass from senior Logan Luxem Thursday night at Prospect.
Pomis then dunked the basketball as he headed south in the Mid-Suburban League West — yes, West — opener for both former MSL East squads.
Hersey was up 29-27 in the third quarter at the time of the resounding alley-oop play. Luxem had recorded a steal at the other end to trigger the sequence that highlighted the Huskies’ game-turning 22-2 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters.
“That dude is good at basketball,” understated Prospect coach Brad Rathe after Pomis poured in 12 of his 14 points in the second half of Hersey’s impressive 60-43 win.
“It looks like he added 10-15 pounds — the good kind of weight,” he added. “He’s a high-level athlete, explosive, with fast-twitch muscles.”
Hersey (4-0, 1-0 in the MSL West) led only 24-22 at the break. Prospect (3-2, 0-1), paced by junior guard Quinn Zinzer’s 8 points (including a pair a treys) and 6 points apiece from seniors Danny Simon and Will Stratigos, had leads of 10-7 and 22-19 in the first half.
“Slow start, a little anxious,” said Pomis, whose final bucket in a personal 6-0 run gave the visitors a 33-27 advantage at 4:23 of the third quarter. “What helped us in the second half was slowing down our offense, running it better, and relying on our strong defense to score often in transition.”
On his dunk off the helper from his longtime hoops mate?
“Exciting moment,” he said. “Nice pass from Logan. It gave us energy. It got our fans going.”
Hersey junior forward Jake Nawrot notched game highs of 19 points and 12 rebounds. The Huskies’ 6-foot-5 quarterback in the fall hit 4 field goals in the fourth quarter, with the first upping the lead to 52-34 at the 5:09 mark.
“That was our program’s first MSL West win, ever,” said Huskies coach Bob Widlowski. “Big mark for us, good start for us in division play. We played very well tonight … in the second half. Charlie did a nice job helping us extend our lead there in the third quarter. First half, we played a little too fast. We needed to run our stuff, and we did that after the break.
“Great atmosphere, in a rivalry game,” he continued. “We’re pleased to get out of here with a win.”
Huskies senior forward Ethan Gries struck for 8 of his 11 points in the final 8 minutes, and junior teammate Tristan Trotter had 7 points. Luxem scored 5 points to go with the assist of the night; he also blocked a shot in the pivotal third quarter.
Zinzer led Prospect with 13 points, followed by Simon (6 boards) with 12. Stratigos finished with 6 points. Knights senior Anderson Neach, a 6-2 guard, grabbed 5 rebounds.
“Early December game,” Rathe said. “We’ll learn from this. We have to respond better than we did to the kind of run Hersey produced. That’s a good basketball lesson. We have a good, hardworking group. It’s also a fun one to coach.
“We’ll bounce back from this.”